Report by International Observers on the 2016 Voter Registration Process in Somaliland Marie-Luise Schueller and Michael Walls with contributions from Amina-Bahja Ekman, Anna Rader and Jama Musse Jama Progressio Units 9-12 The Stableyard Broomgrove Road London SW9 9TL, UK www.progressio.org.uk +44 (0) 20 7733 1195 [email protected] Registered in the UK as a charity (number 294329) and a company limited by guarantee (number 200500) © Progressio March 2017 ISBN-13 978-1-85287-344-8 All photos © Marie-Luise Schueller, Michael Walls and Anna Rader Cover photo: Women queuing up outside a voter registration centre, Sanaag, Somaliland, July 2016 About the authors Michael Walls is a Senior Lecturer at University College London’s (UCL) Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU) and, for the past thirteen years, his research has focused on the political economy of the Somali Horn of Africa, including the evolving political settlement in Somaliland. He was part of the coordination team for international election observations to Somaliland elections in 2005, 2010 and 2012, as well as for the 2016/17 voter registration process. Marie-Luise Schueller is the Policy and Campaigns Manager at Progressio where she works on issues of gender and governance concerning Southern Africa and the Horn of Africa. From 2007 to 2013 she was based in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where she worked for Christian Aid on community-based conflict transformation and local governance. Amina-Bahja Ekman is a MPhil/PhD student at the DPU at UCL. Her research is focused on the political economy of Somaliland, with a particular focus on questions of inequality and identity. Anna Rader researches the politics of identification and biometric technologies in the Global South. She completed her doctorate on the development of Somaliland’s ID cards at SOAS, University of London, and has been part of election observation missions in Somaliland and South Sudan. Jama Musse Jama is an ethno-mathematician, author and a Senior Researcher. He holds a PhD in African Studies, specialising in the computational linguistics of African languages. He is the director of Somali Corpus, an online database of the Somali language, and is noted for his research on traditional Somali board games. He is also the founder of the Redsea Cultural Foundation, the organisation behind the Hargeysa International Book Fair, and the director of the Hargeysa Cultural Center. Acknowledgments We would like to thank the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for their generous support in funding our mission. We are grateful for the constructive liaison with the Somaliland National Electoral Commission, Saferworld, Interpeace and domestic observers. We thank Suad Abdi Ibrahim, Progressio’s Country Representative in Somaliland, and her team for the logistical support provided. But, above all, we wish to thank the Somaliland people for their commitment to peace and democracy, and for their warm welcome to us during our mission in Somaliland. Contents Acronyms and abbreviations ..........................................................................................................2 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................3 The international election observer(s) mission .................................................................................4 The 2016 voter registration process................................................................................................5 Background ...................................................................................................................................5 Legal framework ............................................................................................................................6 Summary of the process .................................................................................................................6 Post-registration politics .................................................................................................................8 The significance of counting people ...............................................................................................8 Clan and politics ............................................................................................................................9 Observation of the voter registration process................................................................................10 Methodology ...............................................................................................................................10 Perceptions of the 2016 voter registration ....................................................................................12 Assessment of the process ...........................................................................................................14 Technical evaluation ..........................................................................................................15 Voter registration centre (VRC) management ....................................................................20 VRC operating hours ........................................................................................................23 Voter verification ..............................................................................................................26 Political party representation .............................................................................................28 Domestic observers ...........................................................................................................28 Women, minorities and displaced persons ....................................................................................30 Women .......................................................................................................................................30 Minorities, internally displaced peoples and refugees ...................................................................31 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................32 Recommendations .......................................................................................................................33 Release of voter register data ............................................................................................33 Operation of voter registration centres ..............................................................................33 Voter education ................................................................................................................33 Voter verification ..............................................................................................................33 Inclusion of minority and non-dominant clans ...................................................................33 Voter card distribution ......................................................................................................34 Voter register maintenance ...............................................................................................34 Appendices ..................................................................................................................................35 Appendix 1: Visits to VRCs ................................................................................................35 Appendix 2: The IEO observation form ..............................................................................36 Notes ...........................................................................................................................................37 Voter Registration Process in Somaliland: page 1 Acronyms and abbreviations APD Academy for Peace and Development BVR Biometric voter registration DPU Development Planning Unit ID Identification/identity document IDP Internally displaced person(s) IEO International election observer(s) MINT Ministry of Internal Affairs NEC National Electoral Commission NGO Non-governmental organisation SCISEF Somaliland Civil Society Election Forum SONSAF Somaliland Non State Actors Forum UCL University College London UK United Kingdom USA United States of America VOSOMWO Voice of Somaliland Minority Women Organisation VRC Voter registration centre Map of Somaliland showing the regions where voter registration was observed Voter Registration Process in Somaliland: page 2 Introduction The Somaliland voter registration process began on 16 January 2016, concluding on 26 September 2016, and was conducted by the Somaliland National Electoral Commission (NEC) in all six regions of the country. International development agency Progressio, the Development Planning Unit (DPU) at University College London (UCL), and members of Somaliland Focus (UK), observed the process at different points during this period. Our international election observer (IEO) mission followed previous observations by these three organisations of Somaliland’s House of Representatives election in 2005, presidential election in 2010, and local council elections in 2012. A woman registering to vote using a biometric iris scanner, in a rural voter registration centre, Ceel Afweyn The purpose of the 2016 mission was to inform Somalilanders and key international actors about the quality and legitimacy of the voter registration process. The credibility of the presidential elections due to take place in 2017 will depend to a great degree on